Charlton came to Carleton, and half of the audience wore black. It wasn't
a fashion statement.

Much of the thousand-strong crowd at Carleton College was protesting
the appearance by Charlton Heston, president of the National Rifle Association.
The actor told students on September 19 to ignore political agendas in
favor of freedom.

"When you call a friend and tell them to vote for freedom first,
your words will echo in the spirit of Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine,"
he said. "They won our freedom with bullets so we could defend our
freedom with ballots."

Heston spoke for fewer than 15 minutes and left without answering questions.

Protesters laid out 178 pairs of shoes to represent the number of Minnesotans
killed by gun violence in 1999. A handful of demonstrators carried pro-NRA
signs.

Tax dollars at work?

Seventy-eight percent of 1,716 government Web sites studied offer no
services online, such as the ability to register a vehicle, file taxes
or apply for a fishing license, says a survey completed by researchers
and students at Brown University. Interestingly, only 7 percent of these
government sites posted privacy policies. -- from The Standard's weekly
Metrics Report

Judge clears government in Branch Davidian case

A federal judge has cleared the government of wrongdoing in the deaths
of 80 Branch Davidians during the 1993 standoff with federal agents at
the cult's compound.

U.S. District Judge Walter Smith said on September 20 cult leader David
Koresh, who died on the final day of the 51-day siege, was entirely to
blame.

"The
entire tragedy at Mount Carmel can be laid at the feet of this one individual,"
Smith said. "The adult Davidians kept the children in the compound
after starting the fire rather than sending them to safety."

With this finding, Smith dismissed a $675 million wrongful death lawsuit
brought by survivors and relatives of the dead, who alleged the government
had caused the standoff and contributed to the fatal fire.

The judge's conclusions mirrored those reached by an advisory jury and
by Special Counsel John Danforth ealier this year.

Smith said agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
acted within the limits of the law and, under the circumstances of the standoff,
could not be held liable.

"No ATF agent fired any shot nor used any force against residents
of the Compound and the Davidians that was unprovoked," Smith wrote
in his order.

"Gunfire was directed at ATF agents by both male and female adult
Davidians. No ATF agent fired any shot nor used any force against residents
of the Compound and the Davidians that was indiscriminate," he wrote.

Federal Bureau of Investigations Director Louis Freeh called the decision
"most gratifying," and noted that several ATF agents were killed
or wounded during the raid -- and all agents had long carried "the
heavy personal burdens these unfounded allegations placed upon them."

"For them and their families I am grateful this court and this judge
laid the blame squarely on the Davidians," he said.

Deputy Attorney General Erich Holder said the Justice Department was pleased
with the ruling.

"Like the Special Counsel before it, the court reaffirmed the fact
that David Koresh, and certain Branch Davidians, were responsible for
the tragedy at Waco," Holder said. "Today's decision appropriately
recognizes that many law enforcement officers risked their lives to uphold
our nation's laws."

The verdict was the latest defeat for Davidians in a seven-year battle
with the U.S. government over responsibility for the Waco siege.

Smith upheld virtually every point of the government's account of how
the Davidians defied calls to surrender, fired on federal agents with
large caliber guns, and themselves set three fires that engulfed the compound.

Smith brought in the advisory panel to give its findings on whether the
ATF used excessive force in the raid by provoking a gunfight and then
firing indiscriminately on the compound.

The jury was also asked to decide whether the FBI acted negligently by
using tanks on the final day of siege in a way that deviated from an approved
plan; contributed to or caused the fire that brought the standoff to a
fiery end; and acted negligently by deciding against fighting a fire if
one broke out.

In July, the five-member advisory jury decided that the government did
not use excessive force in its attempt to serve search and arrest warrants
on Koresh on February 28, 1993. A gun battle broke out and four ATF agents
and six Davidians were killed.

Jurors also decided the government's actions on the final day of the
siege, April 19, 1993, were not negligent and did not contribute to the
deaths of about 80 sect members.

The government said suicidal sect members started fires in the building
and were responsible for their own deaths. Smith agreed, adding that they
were also responsible for the deaths of 13 children.

The five-member advisory jury's finding was not binding under federal
rules for civil lawsuits against the U.S. government. Instead, the judge
was empowered to reach a final verdict based on the jury's decision and
the evidence in a 3 1/2-week trial.

Ray: Insufficient evidence to prosecute Clintons in Whitewater probe

Independent Counsel Robert Ray, in his final report reviewing the 1970s-era
Whitewater real estate partnership, said on September 20 that there was
insufficient evidence that either President Clinton or first lady Hillary
Rodham Clinton had engaged in any criminal wrongdoing.

In a detailed news release issued by the Office of the Independent Counsel,
Ray said, "This office has determined that the evidence was insufficient
to prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that either President or
Mrs. Clinton knowingly participated in any criminal conduct ... or knew
of such conduct."

The White House responded to the report's filing with a brief, one-sentence
statement, saying, "Robert Ray is now the latest investigator to
complete an examination into the transactions related to the Whitewater
Development Co., and conclude that there are no grounds for legal action."

The long-anticipated report will remain under seal for at least several
weeks.

While the land deal phase of the probe is ostensibly over, Ray nonetheless
criticized the White House in his statement, saying delays in the production
of evidence and "unmeritorious litigation" by the president's
lawyers severely impeded the investigation's progress.

Ex-White House volunteer sues Clinton, others

Kathleen Willey Schwicker, a former White House volunteer who accused
President Clinton of fondling her in 1993, has sued Clinton, the first
lady, various White House aides and others claiming they violated her
privacy and civil rights, a conservative legal group said September 21.

Judicial Watch, which has brought a number of civil lawsuits against
the Clinton White House, filed the latest case Wednesday in federal court,
mainly over the White House's release of letters she had written to Clinton.

Schwicker, at the time known as Kathleen Willey, was a former White House
volunteer who alleged in a 1998 national television interview that Clinton
groped her near the Oval Office. Clinton has denied the allegation.

The White House released her letters the day after the interview in an
effort to undermine her credibility. The allegations arose during the
Monica Lewinsky sex-and-perjury investigation that led to Clinton's impeachment
and acquittal.

The lawsuit accused the White House of intentionally releasing the letters
and other confidential information about her, and that she has suffered
"substantial damages, including but not limited to loss of reputation
and emotional distress."

The suit also accused the defendants of engaging in a scheme to violate
the privacy law, "destroying her good name, credibility and reputation."

Among those named in the lawsuit were Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton,
current White House aides Sidney Blumenthal and Bruce Lindsey, former
aides Charles Ruff and Cheryl Mills, the president's lawyer, David Kendall,
and "the executive office of the president."

Judicial Watch previously had raised the Schwicker allegations of privacy
law violations as part of its separate civil lawsuit over the White House's
gathering of hundreds of secret FBI background files on Republican appointees.

Reno says 'Lincoln Bedroom' sleepovers didn't break any laws

Attorney General Janet Reno said September 22 she saw nothing wrong with
the practice of allowing people to stay overnight at the executive mansion.

Asked
that morning if overnight stays at the White House for political donors
are ever a violation of federal law, Reno replied, "If I invited
you to my house, and you stayed overnight, and you gave me a contribution
... we'd look at it on the facts of that case. I don't think it would
be a crime."

Reno said the Clintons had a right to have friends and supporters stay
overnight.

"You've just got to look at the particular facts, and if the president
of the United States wants to invite somebody to stay at what is, in effect,
his home, for a four-year period or an eight-year period, he ought to
be able to do it," she said.

The Lincoln Bedroom, which served Abraham Lincoln as a refuge and office,
rather than a bedroom, became synonymous to some critics and observers with
the lowest form of campaign politicking. High-rolling donors to the Democratic
Party, many said, neither earned nor did they deserve such access to a national
landmark.

Republicans and independent watchdog groups decried the "sleepover"
practice -- going as far back as the months leading up to the 1996 election
-- saying the president's choice to allow campaign contributors to slumber
on such hallowed ground soiled the institution of the presidency, and
the sanctity of the White House.

The bedroom was one of a number of related fund-raising gaffes, which
many Republicans denounced as intentional and willful manipulations of
campaign finance laws.

Among those: Gore's attendance at an illegal fund-raiser held in a California
Buddhist temple -- Gore continues to insist he didn't know it was a fund-raiser;
the infiltration of improper Chinese and Indonesian campaign donations
to the Democratic National Committee; and a series of social "coffees"
hosted by Clinton at the White House.